Ironmaking could be on the edge of a major upgrade. Scientists have developed a cleaner, electrochemical method to extract iron that could one day rival traditional blast furnaces in cost while slashing pollution.
By customizing iron oxide particles and optimizing electrical conditions, the team achieved efficient, low-temperature metal production—paving the way for greener steelmaking on an industrial scale.
Rethinking Ironmaking with Electrochemistry
Iron and its alloys, like steel and cast iron, are essential to modern infrastructure and manufacturing, and global demand for these materials continues to rise. Traditionally, iron is extracted from ore using blast furnaces, a process that consumes large amounts of energy and produces significant air pollution.
Now, researchers reporting today (April 9) in ACS Energy Letters have developed a cleaner alternative. By using electrochemistry to extract iron from a synthetic iron ore, their method could one day compete with blast furnaces in both efficiency and cost.
“Identifying oxides which can be converted to iron metal at low temperatures is an important step in developing fully electrified processes for steelmaking,” says Paul Kempler, the study’s corresponding author.
Breaking Down the Electrochemical Process
In this electrochemical approach, electricity is passed through a liquid containing iron-rich materials, isolating the metal without the need for extreme heat. This method could substantially reduce emissions, including greenhouse gases, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter, and improve energy efficiency. In earlier work, Kempler’s team demonstrated that solid iron(III) oxide particles could be reduced to pure iron in a sodium hydroxide solution at relatively low temperatures (176-194°F, or 80-90°C). However, natural iron ores, often dense, irregular, and filled with impurities, proved challenging for this method.
To overcome this, Kempler teamed up with researchers Anastasiia Konovalova and Andrew Goldman to explore which types of iron ore-like materials might better support the scalability of this cleaner process.
Tweaking Iron Oxide for Better Results
First, the researchers prepared high surface area iron oxide particles with internal holes and connective cavities to investigate how the nanoscale morphology of the particles impacted the electrochemical reaction. Then, they converted some of these into micrometer-wide iron oxide particles to mimic the morphology of natural ores. These particles contained only a few trace impurities, such as carbon and barium. The team designed a specialized cathode to pull iron metal from a sodium hydroxide solution containing the iron oxide particles as current passed through it.
In experiments, dense iron oxides were reduced, or converted into elemental iron, most selectively at a current density of 50 milliamperes per square centimeter, similar to rapidly charging lithium-ion batteries. Conversely, loose particles with higher porosity, and thus higher surface area, facilitated more efficient electrochemical iron production, as compared to those made to resemble the less porous natural iron ore hematite.
Efficiency, Cost, and the Road Ahead
The researchers evaluated the potential cost of their electrochemical ironmaking method. At the current density used in the experiments, they estimated that iron could be produced at less than $600 per metric ton ($0.60 per kilogram), which is comparable to traditional ironmaking.
The study showed that much higher current densities, up to 600 milliamperes per square centimeter, similar to those used in industrial electrolysis cells, could be achieved when using particles with nanoscale porosity. Further advances in electrochemical cell design and techniques to make iron oxide feedstocks more porous will be required before the technology sees commercial adoption.
Reference: “Pathways to Electrochemical Ironmaking at Scale Via the Direct Reduction of Fe2O3” by Anastasiia Konovalova, Andrew C. Goldman, Raj Shekhar, Isaac Triplett, Louka J. Moutarlier, Minkyoung Kwak and Paul A. Kempler, 11 April 2025, ACS Energy Letters.
DOI: 10.1021/acsenergylett.5c00166
The authors acknowledge funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences.
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7 Comments
Nothing new it is called EAF.
Electric Arc Furnce.
Been in Australia for years.
Also had a smaller EAF furnace
To Melt Zinc scraps and pour into molds.
All done with electricity.
Electric arc furnaces don’t turn iron ore into steel, they just melt things. This process uses a water based electrolyte solution to turn iron ore into steel at basically room temperature. An EAF is still the second step in the process.
One wonders if the authors of the paper are aware of Electric Arc Furnaces. Who uses coke fired blast furnaces anymore?
In answer to a previous post 90% of the steel produced in China is made with blast furnace iron. Electric Arc Furnaces must be charged with scrap steel, pig iron or reduced iron not iron ore or iron oxides so they are in no way comparable to the process described in the article. That said I wonder price is assumed for electricity by the inventors in their cost estimate. It may only be viable where there is cheap abundant hydroelectric power.
As if the grid isn’t already at the breaking point. Unless they’re gonna pepper the countryside with nuclear power plants, forget about it.
New advanced geothermal is easily capable of doubling energy generation.
You think they invented this yesterday. Pampa TX had 2 steel electric smelters even back in the late 70s. Made military gun barrels there.